Shortly before the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow kicks off, the global energy crisis is hitting China particularly hard. The government is ramping up coal-fired power generation following blackouts across the country. At the same time, President Xi is announcing a massive program for solar and wind. How much longer is China able to rely on both – and still reach carbon neutrality by 2060? That will be one of the key questions of the climate conference.
By Christiane Kuehl
Taiwan cherishes its de facto independence – even if it refrains from formally declaring it. China's President Xi, meanwhile, is again calling for "peaceful reunification" and garnishes his offer with obvious threats. Their positions differ more than ever before.
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Red wedding dresses, red envelopes for Chinese New Year, red lanterns. The warm color is omnipresent in the People's Republic – even in politics. In socialist countries, people are used to the symbolic color. President Xi Jinping, however, is now applying a particularly thick coat of red paint.
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Xi Jinping, the "Supreme Leader". As President of the People's Republic, he has ruled China since 2013. The China.Table editorial team dares to take a look at one of the most powerful men in the world.Xi Jinping owes the title "Outstanding Leader" to his enormous amount of power. Xi Jinping has been General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2012. His time as head of government has been marked by economic progress on the one hand and major political crises on the other. An overview. Xi Jinping Profile Xi Jinping is the President of the People's Republic, ruling China. He is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, which holds power in the country as the sole ruling single party.Born: 15 June 1953, Beijing, China Xi Jinping Age: 67 Height: 1.8 m Xi Jinping Wife: Peng Liyuan (married since 1987), Ke Lingling (married 1979 - 1982) Children: Xi Mingze Education: Tsinghua University (1998-2002), Tsinghua University (1975-1979)The family of Xi Jingping In 1953, Xi Jinping was born as the third of four sons. His mother's name was Qi Xin, and Xi Jinping's father was Xi Zhongxun, who was himself a politician. With the Cultural Revolution in 1966, he had to resign from his posts. Xi Jinping was sent to the village of Liángjiāhé for political re-education. There he had to work in the fields.Immediately after his first degree, Xi Jinping married Ke Lingling. It was the daughter of Ke Hua. An ambassador of China who worked in London from 1978 to 1983. When his daughter followed him to England in 1982, although Xi Jinping stayed in Beijing, the marriage was divorced.In 1987, Xi Jinping married a second time. His current wife, Peng Liyuan, is a popular folk music singer. The couple got a lot of attention from the Chinese state media. A break in tradition. Because the first lady in China is not usually given this much attention. With Xi Mingze, the two have a daughter together. She was born in the year 1992. In 2014, she graduated from Harvard University. Since then, she has been living in Beijing. What kind of education does Xi Jinping have? By joining the CCP in 1974, Xi Jinping was able to attend Tsinghua University in Beijing. From 1975 to 1979, he earned a degree in chemical engineering. Between 1998 and 2002, Xi Jinping studied a second time. This time, he completed a part-time degree in Marxist philosophy. He also earned a doctorate in law (LLD). Political career of Xi Jinping For Xi Jinping, the political career was a one-way street. The start of his career was the post of vice mayor in Xiamen (population 3.6 million). This is a city in Fujian province (population 36.2 million) in southeast China. In 1993 he rose to the provincial administration of Fujian.Just two years later, he was deputy party secretary there and finally governor in Fujian in 2000. This was followed by posts as governor of Zhejiang (2002), secretary of the provincial committee and chairman of the People's Congress. Also in Zhejiang (2003). Xi Jinping's rise to the top A political quake catapulted Xi Jinping into a top political office in the People's Republic of China. Chen Liangyu was mayor of Shanghai until 2007. He had to resign because of corruption. He was later sentenced to 18 years in prison. Xi Jinping became party leader in Shanghai and was additionally responsible for Hong Kong and Macau.When the 11th National People's Congress met on March 15, 2008, participants elected him vice president. Under then head of state Hu Jintao, he was the second most powerful man in the People's Republic of China and designated successor as head of government. Hu Jintao announced his resignation in November 2012. Xi Jinping succeeded him in March 2013. Overview: Political offices of Xi Jinping 1982-1983: Deputy party secretary in Zhengding From 1983: Party secretary in Zhengding 1985-1988: Vice mayor in Xiamen From 1993: Member of the Fujian provincial government 1995-2000: Governor in Fujian From 2000: Member of the party leadership in Zhejiang 2002-2007 : Governor of Zhejiang From 2003 : Secretary of the provincial committee and chairman of the people's congress in Zhejiang FromMarch 2007 : Party leader in Shanghai From October 2007 : Member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC March 15, 2008: Vice President of the People's Republic of China November 15, 2012: general secretary of the Communist Party of China March 14, 2013 : president of the People's Republic of China Is Xi Jinping a dictator? Xi Jinping has always known how to maintain and expand his power. In 2018, for example, the National People's Congress approved a constitutional amendment. Since then, state presidents have been allowed to stay in office longer than two legislative terms. He does not have to fear competition. Unpopular party colleagues have been politically eliminated.His fear of losing power has taken on curious forms. Since a meme compared him to Winnie the Pooh in 2013, the state censorship department has had to delete Xi Jinping memes featuring Disney's chubby bear. Any images, comparisons or jokes also immediately disappear from the web. Even the movie Christopher Robin, a live-action remake of the classic starring Winnie the Pooh, was banned in the People's Republic. Xi Jinping and the Internet: Power struggle and censorship Xi Jinping prefers only controlled messages to go out to his people. That is why the news service Twitter is also blocked in the People's Republic. Instead, there are other services. For example Weibo. A platform for microblogging. In December 2015, Xi Jinping tried his hand at Weibo. His first post received over 300,000 reposts and 35,000 comments in around thirty hours.Xi Jinping's power struggle also includes a dispute with Jack Ma, the founder of trading and communications platform Alibaba. The billionaire had harshly criticized the financial supervision of the People's Republic of China in October 2020. Thus, he had compared the state-owned banks with pawnshops. As a result, Jack Ma disappeared from public life. Even his function as a television judge in a casting show for young entrepreneurs he was no longer allowed to perform. Xi Jinping and the corona virus from Wuhan Probably the biggest crisis Xi Jinping has had to deal with in his time as President of the People's Republic of China so far has been the coronavirus. It was reportedly transmitted from animals to humans for the first time at a wild animal market in Wuhan. The state leadership around Xi Jinping has taken action against the coronavirus by imposing strict restrictions. The province of Hubei, with a population of 56 million, has been completely isolated from the outside world.The World Health Organization calls Xi Jinping's action in Wuhan "possibly the most ambitious, rapid and aggressive disease-control effort in history." In the Western world, he said, countries are not ready for such measures "both in mindset and materially." But even in the context of the coronavirus policy, critics of the president disappeared or the censorship board silenced them. Trade war with Donald Trump Because of the coronavirus crisis, US President Donald Trump sharply attacked his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Trump had been disappointed in Xi Jinping's failure to contain the coronavirus. Indeed, Xi Jinping had long sowed doubt that Sars-Cov-2 came from Wuhan. Chinese diplomats even blamed the US military.Trump referred to Covid-19 as a China or Wuhan virus and declared in Xi Jinping's direction, "This is the worst attack we've ever had. This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Center." A trade war between the two countries ensued. Wang Yi, a Chinese diplomat, called it a "new Cold War." Xi Jinping and Angela Merkel The tone between Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Xi Jinping was much more diplomatic. The two leaders let it be known in March 2020 that "the current crisis situation can only be resolved through close international cooperation." That may be a very small common denominator, but it is one nonetheless.Politically, however, there is also a lot going on between Angela Merkel and Xi Jinping. In a strategy paper, the EU Commission calls the People's Republic a "systemic rival". On important European issues such as the investment protection agreement or climate protection, China is not moving an inch towards its trading partners. How much money does Xi Jinping earn? As President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping earns a very modest 20,000 euros per year. Nevertheless, the business magazine Spears estimates Xi Jinping's fortune at 1.5 billion dollars. The background to this is a report by the Bloomberg news agency from 2012, which states that Xi Jinping's family has earned "several hundred million dollars". Mainly through political contacts. The Offshore Leaks investigation also revealed in 2014 that funds had been moved offshore through offshore companies. Xi Jinping Debate Those who want to learn more about the President of China can read the Xi Jinping book The World of Xi Jinping by Kerry Brown. Anyone traveling to China should know the correct pronunciation of Xi Jinping. The "X" is pronounced softly, which is "ch." So the pronunciation of his family name is "Chi." The "J" at the beginning of the first name sounds like "Ch". So the correct pronunciation of Xi Jinping is "Chi Jinping". All the latest news and important news about Xi Jinping is available from the China.Table editorial team.
